Welcome to Bori’s blog!

As you can tell, I am sailing aboard Schooner Maggie B to Brazil with five other intrepid souls from all around the world. I was one of the lucky first sailors to travel from Nova Scotia, back in January. We have come a very long way, and have many more miles to go.

Recovering in Natal — Farewell to Nadia, Valentine & Mounira!

We are in Natal, learning the town, fixing things, and generally recovering.

But first, a short quiz for the astrologically inclined:

Don’t look ahead! The sun on June 28th is about 23 degrees north of the equator.

The Maggie B is about six degrees south of the equator. When we look at the sun at noon, it is about 29 degrees north or down from overhead.

So, the question is: at noon, where, up north, will someone look at the sun at noon and see it about 29 degrees south or down from overhead? As a clue, 23 degrees north means that the sun is directly overhead Cuba, Oman, and Taiwan.

Natal

Natal is a fast growing town of perhaps a million people. Hard working, rich in parts, poor in parts, and seemingly generally successful. The interior here is reportedly very poor due to long term drought, and has been depopulated. One Brazilian described Brazil as “rich south, poor north, with the dividing line at about Salvador, and Natal the capital of the poor north.” Natal has been helped by tourism and the beaches have endless impressive hotels, which are apparently filled in season. June is not the season. Some of the “scene” and the tourist trade has apparently been spoiled by sexual tourism and an active and aggressive prostitution scene. We have not seen any of that, but then have been steered to specific areas (and away from others) by our friends at the Yacht Club.

Today is going to be a big work day.

Our “to do” list has 27 items. Some easy like “reglue paper towel holder” some hard like “clean boat.” Our hope is to finish by 4 PM and get a cab to the nicest beach area, the Ponte Negra (note: NOT one of the bad areas mentioned above), which is about 10 KM away, go for a swim and generally hang out and have dinner and reward us for a hard day. Tomorrow we are going to hire a driver and a dune buggy to go exploring the area north of the river, which apparently has fascinating dunes and wild beaches. Then the weekend to finish things up and hopefully off to Salvador on Monday. We are going to head south in short stages, checking out the little out-of-the-way beach towns. At least checking out the beach towns that are accessible by a boat drawing two meters. The coast is rather sketchy, with both electronic and paper charts being rather full of the symbol for wrecks. We should have fun.

As the crow flies, Salvador is about 475 miles. By sea, perhaps 550.

The crew is now down to the hard core:

Frank Blair, Max Hofman and Bori Kiss. Essentially, the Watch Officers from the last leg. The French girls are gone.

Answer to the quiz:

London, North of Newfoundland, Canada, Kiev, Ukraine, Warsaw. So we are getting “less” sun in Brazil that ALL of the US!

All is well.

Location: Yacht Club do Natal
Monday 09:30, 06.26.2006

The Schooner Maggie B anchored off the Yacht Club do Natal at 0930 on June 26, 19 days out of Barbados. The trip log is at 2408 NM, for an average of 127 miles a day, though not always in the direct line. It seems as if we were close hauled on port tack for 99.7% of the time.

The last bit into the Potengi River without a motor was quite difficult. The wind was light, 5-8 knots, getting lighter and more variable, and the current out was about a knot and a half. This was all complicated by the construction in mid stream of a new bridge, making the currents and room to tack rather reduced. We had to anchor in the middle of things for a bit to wait for a bit more breeze, which was also complicated by failure of the windlass. But quick thinking by Max had us “nipping” the chain and pulling it back, length by length to the electric winch, when a bit of a favorable breeze came up. It took us almost an hour to go the mile from the mouth of the breakwater to the Yacht Club.

Once anchored, we were told that we were too far out in the stream and had to tuck in further. As we were launching the Reepicheep, a small Brazilian fishing boat capsized nearby. We rowed over and dragged them in to the beach. Then we rowed our #2 anchor up into the requested position and winched our way out of the way. Then lunch and now we are off to deal with the fabled Brazilian Bureaucracy.

All is well.

Location: 5° 06.0 S, 35° 25.0 W
Sunday 12:00, 06.25.2006

Schooner Maggie B’s Noon Position on Sunday, June 25 was 05° 06.0S 35° 25.0 W. As you can see from Google Map, we are about five miles off the beach at Cape Calcanhar, the turning point. The black and white striped lighthouse is very visible through the rain showers. Cape Sao Roque, better known but less important, is another 20 miles south. We currently have tacked off, on a course of 110 degrees at six knots. We are just 40 miles from Natal, but we are beating into a strong SE’erly, so we probably won’t be there until after dark.

The mouth of the Potengi River at Natal seems wide and well-marked. There is a nice breakwater at the mouth, inside of which we should be able to anchor for the night. The chart does have a caution about varying currents and shifting shoals, so if it looks chancy when we get there, we’ll just hold off for the night and enter at dawn.

Last night was a long one of beating our way down the coast through rain squalls and strings and strings of tiny, impossible-to-detect on radar, fishing boats, all lit up, between showers, by oil platforms and petrochemical works.

Sixteen days and 2333 on the trip log.

All is well.

Location: 4° 27.5 S, 36° 52.8 W
Saturday 12:00, 06.24.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s Noon Position on Saturday, June 24 was 4° 27.5 S, 36° 52.8 W. Our course is 195 degrees at 5.6 knots. The wind is 130 at 12-14. We have 127 NM to go. The trip log is 2177 NM.

Getting around this last Cape — Calcanhar — is getting old. As you can see, we have gone 17 times the last distance to Natal, but, due to winds and current, this last is very hard. But we have been out for 15 days and 17 was my estimate a month ago and you have to work the ship, so we will be fine. This Cape is where the coast of Brazil changes from East and West to North and South. The Equatorial Current also splits off here. Once past all will be easier, but we are not there yet.

Last night was a surprise. We worked our way into the coast. We made soundings for the first time in two weeks and sailed in to a depth of 100 feet (we were still 20 miles off the coast) and then put her about to starboard tack. Sailing along the coast at night we were in the midst of dozens of fishing boats. In the last ten days we have seen perhaps three boats, so it was rather a change. Most all carried only a single white light, so it was a bit challenging to determine speed and distance. Being small wooden boats in a fair sea, they didn’t show up on radar.

One medium sized motorboat did show up on radar as it came within five miles and we were able to “acquire” it. Acquiring a target on radar means that we can highlight it with a pointer, push a button or two, and the computer will work out the target’s course, speed, and closest point of approach. This boat was coming right for us. It was on our right, so in general it would have right-of-way — we would see their red light and they would see our green. But we are a sailboat, under sail and thus have right of way over a motorboat. But would they realize we were a sailboat? I turned the deck lights on to light up the sails, hoping they would adjust their course to pass behind us. There was an announcement on the radio in Portuguese but Bori, who can speak the language, was asleep. Then they turned on an additional white masthead light. Yike! Two masthead lights in a vertical line means a tow boat! Towing trumps sailing. I spun the Maggie B downwind to avoid the hypothetical barge, though there turned out to be nothing else there, other than a game of “Brazilian one-up.”

We expect to be in Natal tomorrow or the next day. Life on board has an “end-of-term at school” feel. I am anxious about how we will be able to find a good place to anchor under sail up the River Potengi, and then all the bureaucratic problems of checking in with the world’s worst bureaucracy, getting the supplies we need, getting the Maggie B hauled to put a new propeller on, etc., etc.

All is well.

Location: 2° 53 S, 36° 58.7 W
Friday 12:00, 06.23.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on Friday 23 June was 02° 53 S 36° 58.7 W. Our course is 220 degrees at 6 knots. We have 204 miles to go to Natal. The wind is 170 degrees at 15-20 and Natal is bearing……170 degrees. We are headed in towards the coast of Brazil, hoping to get a break on the current that is pushing us NW. The coast is about 100 miles away and we should pick up soundings at about ten o’clock tonight. Our trip log is now at 2039 NM.

The current belief is that our feathering propeller, a J-Prop, has somehow eaten its internal gears and now the three blades are essentially free floating. Why? Who knows — don’t think that it was abuse. We just haven’t been using it that much. One possibility is that we picked up some sort of trash, which fouled the prop and as worked for us routinely, it had some sort of extra stress which caused it to fail.

We do have a spare non-feathering prop. Depending on technical advice (a fine use for this email system), we may give a try to replace at sea it if we find some quiet spot along the coast before we get to Natal. I remains to be seen. In any case, Natal is spread along a river that looks from the chart to be “friendly” for sailing anchoring. Check out the harbor on Google Earth!

We have plenty of water, plenty of food, but must make port soon as we are running low on chocolate (we are now eating cooking chocolate, horrors). It is amazing to me that on deck it will be a real thrash, with rain and spray in equal (industrial strength) parts, wind blowing 20-30 knots, and down below it will be mostly quiet, warm, dry and the off duty crew will be sleeping soundly.

All is well.

Location: 1° 02.0 S, 36° 18.0 W
Thursday 12:00, 06.22.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on June 22 was 01° 02.0 S 36° 18.0 W . We are currently headed 235 degrees at six knots with a wind from 170 degrees at 15-30 knots. The 30 knots comes in the regular rain showers that really should be called squalls. You suit up for one and it is over by the time you are all strapped in, you get out of the foulies, settled in and the next one is on you.

We are 283 miles from Natal, still off the coast of Brazil. Fortaleza, Brazil is the nearest town, about 240 miles away. We have come 1930 NM so far.

We are having teething problems. People say that it takes a year or two to settle in a custom boat and we have only been at it for five months since launching and certainly have done a lot in that time. Teething sounds trivial, but I sure remember a lot of crying. Our recurring problem is the attachment for the main throat halyard. It was originally too low and chafed through before Bermuda and then we had some new pieces put on in Antigua and one of them popped off at 0430 this morning, dropping the main a bit and causing us to lower it the rest of the way.

We got things back fixed up with a bit of a jury rig so that the main is up with one reef and it will be fine until we can get a little more work done on the mast when we are next in port. These masts are modern marvels — strong and light — but you can’t just screw something into them like a wooden mast.

We are also having some concerns about the engine. Somewhere along the line we seem to have gotten some algae in the fuel. We dosed it with algicide in Barbados, but the dead stuff seems to have partially clogged one of the engine filters (yes, the one filter that we don’t have a spare for!). The engine still runs, but at reduced RPM. The latest anomaly with the engine is that it runs satisfactorily, the gear box is fine, turning the prop shaft in both directions, but we are getting no thrust at all from the prop. We have a feathering prop, which may be doing something too clever, but the more likely probability is that the prop has come off. When the weather calms down a bit, I’ll be going over the side to check. We do carry a spare prop, but no spare prop nut. Things may get interesting.

We have changed our destination back to Natal, to take care of the boat problems before we have fun on “three of the top ten beaches in Brazil.” I’m already studying Natal harbor to find a nice open, safe spot to anchor if we have to do it under sail.

Never a dull moment.

Location: 0° 44.0 S, 37° 54.0 W
Wednesday 12:00, 06.21.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on June 21 was 0° 44.0 S 37° 54.0 W. “S” means SOUTH! It is so strange that we crossed to the Southern Hemisphere on the very day that the Northern goes into Summer and the Southern goes into Winter.

We finally got our wind shift this morning. Twelve days waiting for it. The wind is now 160 degrees at 10-12 and we are headed about 105-110 degrees at 6 1/2 knots. Fernando de Norunha is 375 miles away and we are about 240 miles off the Brazilian coast. We have now about a knot of head (adverse) current and the seas have laid down a lot. The weather is lovely - scattered clouds and enough breeze to sail perfectly balanced, but no spray on deck or rain showers. Last night we did have a heavy rain with winds up to 30 knots.

We crossed the Equator last night at about 2000. I was temporarily absent, but I understand that King Neptune came aboard to interview, test, mark and accept all five polliwogs, who are now true schoonermen shellbacks. Bori somehow took some scary pictures, which will be posted on the web site as soon as we get some connectivity.

We are now in a lovely topsail breeze with all plain sail up. It is strange to be on the starboard tack after the better part of two weeks on port.

Lunch today was Wahoo fish cakes. We have had it raw, grilled, in a stew and now in fish cakes. One more meal of it left and the competition is on for another recipe.

All is well.

Photos!

Click here to view all the Bori photos from The Maggie B…

En route to Fernando de Noronha: Pamuk, Steinbeck & “Le Grande Secret”

The Captain is reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. Mounira and Nadia are reading Steinbeck’s A l’Est d’Eden aloud to each other and Valentine just finished “Le Grande Secret” which is about a great secret (an immortality drug).

Location: 0° 39.8 N, 38° 30.3 W
Tuesday 12:00, 06.20.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on 20 June was 0° 39.8 N, 38° 30.3W. We are headed 175 degrees at six knots, sailing under one reef in both main and fore and the jib partially furled/reefed. She balances perfectly, with zero rudder. The wind is from 120-130 at 15-22 knots, with a fairly sloppy 8-10 foot sea, increased in confusion by a 1/2 to one knot northerly (favorable) current. We are thrashing along in a less than elegant fashion, but now after 13 days, essentially all close-hauled on port tack, we are all accustomed to it, and know just when to reach out and catch the espresso pot as it hurtles across the galley.

Fernando de Noronha is 435 miles away. We will probably keep these conditions the rest of the way unless we get some sort of unexpected break. We should be there in perhaps four days. The trip log is 1670 NM.

Fish stew is simmering away on the stove, with the last of our tomatoes, lots of onions, frozen fresh peas, canned corn and lots of herbs.

Neptune should arrive on board this evening, if he can grab on as we slip and slide across the line. The polliwogs are increasingly nervous.

All is well.

Location: 2° 26.0 N, 39° 32.0 W
Monday 12:00, 06.19.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s Noon Position on June 19th was 2° 26 N, 39° 32 W . The SE’erly trades seem to have set in. The wind has been 120-140 at 10 to 25 knots. Rain showers are more frequent. Our course is about 185 degrees at 4 to 6 knots. We have full jib up and full main, which is too little for the lighter breezes and too much for the little blows that come with each shower. We are probably going to switch to one reef in the fore and main, to keep two “slots” where the overlapping sails help power us to windward. That will give us more balance and flexibility. The sea is bigger and confused with a fair SE’erly swell with a cross chop.

It is tough to steer and trim the sails. We need power to push through the waves, but we also need to go to Fernando de Noronha, which is about 160 degrees at 550 miles. When in doubt, go for power.

I understand that the Crew Quiz Test Your Sea Legs is operational on the web site. Try it! Please give me feedback.

We put our fishing lines over today and had a nice Wahoo landed about an hour later. Somewhat bigger than the last two, this one probably making three meals for the six of us. Thanks to great advice from my friend Richard Postma of the fishing catamaran Taravana in French Polynesia (Google his web site — he is a real character), and killer lures from Melton, it seems as if we just have to decide when we want fish for dinner and “reach in the tank” for a nice one. I suppose that it helps that no one else has probably ever fished this area.

It looks as if we are going to have a bit of a hard slog to windward. I have forgotten what it feels like to sail the Maggie B off the wind. But…

All is well.

Location: 4° 12.0 N, 40° 19.0 W
Sunday 12:00, 06.18.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on June 18 was 4° 12.0 N 40° 19.0 W. The wind has been from 110-130 degrees at 7 to 15 knots. Last night we had one rain shower after another. The rain showers would bring wind (and water!) then no wind after. Routine was to stop the engine, roll out the jib (fore sail stowed), adjust sails, close all hatches, get a big cold shower, run out of wind, start engine, roll up jib, open hatches. Repeat on half hour intervals. Fun at 4 PM, less so at 4 AM.

At noon we were sailing along nicely at 6.5 knots, heading 175, with a wind from 120 at 12 knots. Great if it lasts, but more SE’erly winds (on our nose) predicted ahead so we are doing our best to keep East for the wind shift.

We have gone 1420 NM since Barbados. Natal and Fernando de Noronha are both about 680 NM to go.

Last night we were treated to a very rare (first time I’ve ever seen it) moon-bow. After one short but intense rain shower, the half moon popped out and behind us was a perfect arc against the clouds, whiter than the clouds, with just a little touch of pink.

One pleasure of having it relatively clear to the South is that we have been learning our Southern stars. There is the Southern Cross, which despite all the hype looks rather like a kid’s kite to me. More interesting is Alpha and Beta Centauri. But the most interesting, if one is up from midnight to four AM, is to watch the well defined Scorpio do a slow somersault around bright blue Spica in Virgo. We have also had the Twins setting in the West behind us, looking sometimes like a pair of ship’s masthead lights bearing down on us.

Today was another first. The Captain made scones and they came out pretty well (after you have been at sea for a while anything is delicious). The recipe caught my eye by being called “Fool Proof Scones.” I was happy that my son Alden insisted on a nice slate bread-making surface next to the stove. It almost was a disaster when I found that the bread pan where the dough was all laid out ready to go….didn’t fit the oven! #$*@*&@%!! But my tool box was handy and the tin snips had all sorted out directly.

All is well.

Ten days at sea. . .

We are sailing 300 nautical miles East from the delta of the Amazon river. We have been at sea for ten days without seeing land. Our universe is the boat, our 19 meter headquarters. That is where we live now. We hoist and lower sails, adjust them and keep an eye on the horizon for other boats. We cook and eat together, we sleep and we dream. On our night watches we sail under the stars and keep our heading in relation to the moon. We remember the sunset and wait for the sunrise. The wind cools our sunburned skin.

One morning, just as the sun was rising, a butterfly flew around the stern of the boat. (Was it born on board or was it blown here from some far-away place like Africa?) One night a tropical seabird tried to make a landing on deck to get some rest. An afternoon shearwaters followed us fishing in the shade behind the boat. They flew up in the air, looked for fish and landed like ducks slowing themselves down with their feet. Once in the water, they poke their heads down into the waves. How deep can they see? I wonder… and what do they see? I wish I could be in the water with them for a while and open my wings like a bird and start flying if sharks approach.

Dolphins and flying fish are as present in our lives as the sunset and the sunrise. We have learned about colors we didn’t know existed: blues of the ocean and the sky, silvery and yellowish shades of sunlight reflected on the water and rainbow-like ever-changing colors that separate days from nights. Salt sticks to our skin and hair. We develop callouses on our palms.

A day goes by and the night comes again. We raise our voices to sing in the wind. We dream while we sing. It is easy to imagine almost anything in the middle of the ocean surrounded by stars. We keep on sailing. Time exists less and less.

Location: 5° 09.5 N, 41° 46.5 W
Saturday 12:00, 06.17.2006

At noon on June 17th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 5° 09.5 N 41° 46.5 W. Our speed is 5.7 kt on a course of 115.

We appear to be on the south side of the ITCZ, with the wind at 180 at 10-12 kt true. We haven’t had much in the way of rain showers (yet?) or calms. Since setting out 10 days ago we have run the engine only 25 hours, with the general rule being to motor when the boat speed is under four knots.

Last night it looked as if we were going to get a real “frog choking, gully washer” of a rain so we rigged our rain-catcher, which is a 8×10 foot tarp with a drain set in the middle leading to a short pipe to plug into the water tank filler. Some of us got into bathing suits for a “free” shower, but alas, it passed us by at the last minute with only a little spritz.

We are on course for and 100 miles from our first “turn target” from Commanders Weather, where we’ll start arcing south to plug into the SE’erlies. In that we have a southerly already, we may not be able to do much arcing, but so far so good.

We are 780 NM from both Natal and Noronha, with our FdeN being about 150 degrees, which would be difficult if all we get is a strong SE’erly. But so far we have been able to do pretty well with each shift and hopefully we will be able to continue to play whatever variability we get.

Today was wash day and the boat looks rather like 1960’s hippie patched blue jeans with every color and kind of cloth everywhere. Hopefully we won’t be seen by any other boats.

Bori is starting our Portuguese lessons today, so that we can learn essential phrases like “hello,” thank you,” and “where is the Internet Cafe?” Noontime music is all Brazilian. Samba lessons next?

Max is showing more of his dingy racing background and climbed up the mainsail leech to hang ribbons so that we can be sure all those Bernoullis are working for us.

All is well.

Location: 5° 52.6 N, 43° 31 W
Friday 12:00, 06.16.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on June 16 was 5° 52.6 N 43° 31 W. Our course is 120, speed five knots under full plain sail. The wind is from 075 at 8-10 knots. We changed our clocks to Brazil time which is three hours behind Universal Time.

First a quiz, with answers at the end. Don’t peek ahead! In a perfectly flat sea with perfect visibility, how far can you see something right on the surface (think a person’s head or the strobe light on a life jacket) if you were standing 10 feet (3 M) above the water, before it is over the horizon, literally? Write your answer down. Second, if you are 10 feet (3 M) above the water, flat sea, perfect visibility, how far away could you see a bright light 40 feet (12 M) in the air? Like on the bow of a huge container ship. Third and finally, if the Maggie B is doing her usual seven knots and the aforementioned container ship is doing 28 knots (like the one we saw last night) and they are head to head, closing, how long from the first possible glimpse of the ship’s light to impact?

Our position is 535 NM WSW of Belem, 860 from Recife and 870 from Fernando de Noronha (FdeN). FdeN is our new planned next stop. The archipelago is on our way to Natal and is described by The Lonely Planet Guide, which is not prone to exaggeration, as the prettiest place in Brazil, if not the whole world. It is located at 3° 50 S 32° 25 W. It has three of Brazil’s “Top Ten” beaches. Access to FdeN is tightly controlled, with a limited amount of tourists, and escalating daily fees. It is mostly a national park and has tight restrictions. It is not exactly a port of entry, but our information is that yachts are allowed to stay briefly in certain areas, especially if it is a “port of necessity.” We expect that Bori with her Portuguese, suitable crew uniforms, a nice bottle of French wine, and cheerful payment of the official fees will make our arrival a success. Check FdeN out on the web at Fernando de Noronha. We don’t have web access here so if you see any hints for us, please email them.

When we started out for Brazil from Barbados, many sailors were very negative about the routing due to the current along the coast, which would supposedly push us back into the Caribbean. The reality is much different. We have had as much favorable (two knots behind us last night) as unfavorable current. I suspect that it this current was as analyzed as the Gulf Stream, it would not be so scary to sailors, and that with good updates, a navigator could find favorable eddies.

Answers to the quiz:
1) 3.6 miles (5.8 Km)
2) 11 miles (17.6 Km)
3)19 minutes. Yikes! Thank goodness for radar.

All is well.

Location: 6° 26.0 N, 45° 54.0 W
Thursday 12:00, 06.15.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on 15 June was 6° 26 N 45° 54 W. At noon we were making 4.2 knots on a course of 075 with a wind of 6-8 knots from 150 degrees. We seem to have lost our unfavorable current.

Sailors will look for a while at the next-to-last sentence. First, doing 4.2 knots in a 6-8 knot wind, close hauled with a 35 ton schooner is amazing. But, the sailor says, “you aren’t close hauled, the wind is from 75 degrees off your starboard!” But, think of an ice boat — they go so fast that the relative wind quickly comes forward. Certainly, the Maggie B is no ice boat, but she is so fast that the _relative_ wind cranks forward. No 90 degree tacks here — more like 150, which makes it tough to get upwind.

Now, as I write at 1400, we are motoring at 8 knots towards our next turn point just on the north side of the ITCZ. The wind has fallen off to 3-4 knots. So, as Captain, I have to start worrying about how far can we motor and when we might have to turn for some earlier Brazilian port if we don’t get any wind. We left Barbados with about 350 gallons of diesel. In the last seven days, we have run the generator for 39 hours which is 20 gallons and the engine for seven which is 14 gallons, so we should have about 315 gallons left or somewhat over 1000 miles motoring. We also have an emergency 10 gallons in the propane locker.

It was hard to start the engine because it has been such lovely sailing, even though slow. We had the second half of the Wahoo for lunch on deck under the awning — fillets marinated in ginger and lime juice, done quickly in a hot frying pan. The sea is sparkling all around with distant rain clouds showing rainbows. There is a gentle NE swell giving the Maggie B a light calm motion.

Our trip log is now at 1028 NM — not all in a straight line as we are no &^%$# motorboat. Belem on the Amazon is 220 degrees at 500 NM, Natal is 976. Africa — Sierra Leone — is just under 2000 NM to the East.

I mention Africa above because one of today’s surprises was a big butterfly around us for a while. Since we are downwind from Africa, it must have ridden a tropical wave across. 2000 miles! This morning at first light, Mounira saw a two meter Blue Marlin quite close aboard.

We generally have “air cover” of a group of Common Shearwaters. Today they displayed unusual behavior by landing quite close to the boat — three of four meters away and then immediately ducking their head underwater to look for goodies. We must have an interesting following under the boat by now.

Last night Jorge the Autopilot was acting out a bit and we were handsteering a lot. The mostly-full moon was in perfect position to lock in the shrouds and sail right on until morning.

All is well.

Location: 7° 14.0 N, 47° 02.0 W
Wednesday 12:00, 06.14.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s Noon Position on June 14 was 7° 14.0 N, 47° 02.0 W. The mouth of the Amazon is SW about 460 NM and Natal is 1060 NM. We are still just close hauled with the wind 075 at 9-10 knots. We are on a course of 120, making 4.5 to 5 knots through the water with one knot of current against us.

We have somewhat updated waypoints from Commander’s Weather, our routing and Meteo advisor. Our next point is 5N/40W, where we should encounter the start of the ITCZ, somewhat broken up by a weak tropical wave. From there we make a grand curve south towards Natal. This is somewhat cutting the corner from our earlier plan to go as far East as 5N/28W. The reason is due to an expected softening of the breeze, probably down to the point of us needing to motor for a day or so.

It is another lovely day. The sea is down to mostly 5-7 foot swells, which gives us an easy motion. Today was “Boat Day” with lots of vacuuming, wash down, fixing, tightening, stitching, etc.

Last night we started in on learning our stars with two hours of full dark before the mostly full moon came up. Arcturus was right over us, seemingly wrapped in the top of the mast. Venus greeted the morning watch.

Preparations are already underway to greet Neptune when he boards us as we cross the Equator southbound. It is going to be a rough go with five Pollywogs aboard, but I’ll do my best to arrange for the proper ceremonies.

All is well.

Location: 7° 59 N, 48° 29 W
Tuesday 12:00, 06.13.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on June 13 was 7° 59N, 48° 29W. We have gone 824 NM since Barbados and currently Cayenne is WSW at 300 NM, the mouth of the Amazon SSW at 450 and Natal 1140 NM to go. The wind is 080-090 at 12-15 and we are headed 135-140 at 5.5 knots. We have a full jib, full fore and two reefs in the main.

First the good news. Yesterday evening, Max our resident dingy racer/sailor experimented sailing the Maggie B with a fixed helm. We were sailing close hauled at 6.5 knots in 18-23 knots true wind in a 5-8′ swell with mixed waves. The Maggie B, without autopilot or anyone at the help, kept herself about 38-40 degrees off the relative wind, with a variation of only 5-6 degrees for two hours.

But then…. At about 10:30 on the moonlit night, I came on deck where Max had the watch. We were rather bounding along under full sail and she was seeming a bit over pressed. Literally just as Max said “Do you think I’m driving her too hard?” the block at the top of the main throat halyard let go with a bang and down came the sail. All hands on deck had it sorted out in a jiffy and we proceeded at five knots and a bit off the wind with fore sail and reefed jib - reefed for balance.

On inspection of the failure, the upper block was a hefty looking Lewmar 80 “three wheeler” but with a pathetic spindle to connect it to the shackle. While small to begin with, the spindle had been bored out and further compromised by the hole to allow for the shackle pin. It is surprising that the trivial remaining amount of metal could hold up the block, let alone anything attached to it, let alone a main sail. Our other blocks appear all to be Lewmar 80 HD, which have a much heavier spindle.

Going up the mast this morning with the new halyard and spare (heavier!) block was a challenge. Still blowing @20 with moderate confused sea. We set her on course paralleling the rollers, but it still was a beating by a big guy (Neptune?). My inner arms and thighs are black and blue. I am snacking on Industrial Strength Ibuprofen.

When I was up there I though of my hero Ellen MacArthur getting similarly (much, much more) thrashed in the Southern Ocean, and knew that I could do it. But I did also think of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” as my basic motor functions were getting thrashed out of me.

But now the sails are back up and we are bowling along to Natal and. . . .

All is well.

The Word from Commander’s Weather Corporation, sent 06.13.2006

I thought that it might be interesting for readers to see what sort of guidance we are getting on weather routing. I got permission from Chris Wasserback over at Commander’s Weather to post this to our site.

Summary €” wind diminishes in the next 12 hrs, and then will be quite light for an extended time thru the weekend!

1) Fairly strong high pressure (1031 mb) is situated well north into the central Atlantic with ridge axis extending to south of Bermuda
2) This high/ridge to the north is responsible for the brisk/strong tradewind regime over the region.
a) Winds mainly 20+ knots north of 10N, but lighter to the S and SE
3) Satellite imagery shows lots of cloudiness with scattered showers in the region in association with a trough or tropical wave near 10N and 40W
4) This wave weakens, but troughiness of lower pressure to the north will keep winds on the lighter side over the next couple days.
a) Will continue to be some clouds and possible some showers or maybe minor squall or two
b) Wnds will be mainly <12 knots
c) Wind direction mainly from E, but will vary from NE to SE
5) Will be a stronger wave devloping in the Cape Verdes over next coupledays and heads W thru the weekend.
a) not sure of development, but this will keep the trades on lighter side thru the weekend
6) Aso with the lighter trades, the SE flow along the Brazilian coast will be lighter, but still think you could run into 20 kts

Routing €” with the lighter winds, would get more east and head for 5n/40w to 2n/35w and then to 1S/34w before heading S-SW to Natal. With this route, you will be in better position to approach Natal with the stronger SE winds.

Wind forecast
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in KTS, and time is UTC

Wed, Jun 14
00: 040-060/16-22
06: 050-080/18-10
12: 050-080/7-12 near 7 15n/46 40w
18: 070-110/5-10 or less at times
Weather: Variable clouds with potential for a couple showers
Seas down to 5-7 ft, less wind wave chop with NE swell

Thu, Jun 15
00: 060-100/5-10 or less
06: 080-110/6-12
12: 090-120/5-10 or less near 6 10n/43 30w
18: 040-070/5-10
Weather: Variable clouds with potential for a few showers, maybe squall or two
Seas: down to 4-6 ft, mainly NE to E-NE swell

Fri, Jun 16
00: 050-070/6-12
06: 060-080/8-13
12: 030-060/6-12 near 05 10n/40 30w
18: bcmg light/variable
Weather: continued variably cloudy with a few showers possible
Seas: 4-6 ft, E-NE swell

Sat, Jun 17
00: Light/variable or light S-SE <5
12: 150-180/6-11 near 03 40n/38w
Weather: Variable clouds with a few scattered showers, maybe a squall or two
Seas down to 3-5 ft, E swell

Sun, Jun 18
00: 100-140/5-10
12: 070-110/6-12 near 2 00n/35w
Weather: Partly to variably cloudy, threat of an isolated shower or squall
Seas 3-5 ft, E swell

Mon, Jun 19
00: 070-100/8-14
12: 100-130/8-14 near 0 30s/34w
Weather: partly to variably cloudy, maybe a passing shower
Seas 4-6 ft, E-NE swell

Lunch, Monday 06.12.2006

Lunch today is shrimp in garlic and oil with special spices from our friend Pierre, owner of Mango Restaurant in Barbados. Mixed greens salad with tomatoes and goat cheese.

Location: 8° 47.0 N, 50° 02.0 W
Monday 12:00, 06.12.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 08° 47.0 N, 50° 02.0 W. You will notice that we are a ways NE of our last position. We tacked over onto starboard last night at 2230 to take advantage of a short SE’erly that must have been associated with the last modest Tropical wave that slid by on the ITCZ. It gave us the advantage to head off the coast at six knots on a course of 070-080 for half a day. We are squeezing out every little bit of easting we can from the modest changes thrown us.

After four and a half days close hauled on port tack, it was a surprise and pleasure (mostly) to switch over to close hauled on starboard. Last night was as pretty sailing as I know. Full moon with distant rain showers to give the horizon character. The Maggie B slipping along at six knots in only 10 knots of true wind, not touching a sheet for hours at a time. The swells mostly laid down and only had a nice regular motion.

At noon our SE’erly ran out and the regular 080-090 Easterly has set back in, but not in any force as yet, so we are motor sailing for a bit to get into the wind, course 120 at 7.5 knots. We have gone about 700 NM so far and it is 1250 yet to Natal.

Lunch today is shrimp in garlic and oil with special spices from our friend Pierre, owner of Mango Restaurant in Barbados. Mixed greens salad with tomatoes and goat cheese.

Yesterday we had a family group of about 6-8 of False Killer Whales (Pseudorca crassidens) come hang out with us. They clearly were interested in us, but didn’t quite have the energy, speed or enthusiasm to ride our bow wave. They hung about in formation about 200 yards away for perhaps 15 minutes before heading off for their next appointment. Their head is rather rounded, but not dome-like as with a Pilot Whale, and the rounded, curved dorsal helps with the identification. The whole impression is of a group of active but slightly overweight Southern matrons bustling to a church tea, where the usual group of dolphins are more like teenagers on skateboards.

All is well.

Lunch, Sunday 06.11.2006

Lunch was a red and yellow pepper omelet with a tomato lettuce salad.

En route to Brazil: McMurtry’s newest, Patrick O’Brien, & Pierre Desproges

The Captain just finished Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry — perhaps partially for the pleasure of contemplating dry, dusty Tombstone, Arizona. Now I’m on my third re-read of Patrick O’Brian’s Blue at the Mizzen — trying to alternate sailing books with their land cousins. Nadia, Mounira and Valentine are reading aloud Pierre Desproges Chroniques de la haine ordinaire.

Location: 8° 28.7 N, 52° 08.6 W
Sunday 12:00, 06.11.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 8° 28.7N, 52° 8.6W at noon on June 11. The wind has backed to 070-080 at 15 knots and our course is 130 degrees at six knots. We are sailing with jib, full main and one reef in the fore, which probably will come out soon. We appear to have about 1/2 knot favorable current, a real blessing where we were anticipating at least that much adverse. We continue to see pieces of trees, etc., presumably flotsam from the Amazon.

We are 530 NM from Barbados, 210 NNE of Cayenne and 1314 from Natal. We are still close hauled on port tack, doing our best to keep our easting, in order to stay out of the ITCZ.

The weather remains mostly clear with a high haze and occasional passing rain showers. The barometer is off just a bit to 1010 mB, which seems right as we make our way away from the Bermuda High. For those who want to follow our weather, I am watching carefully NOAA Stormtracker.

Yesterday afternoon we saw a marvelous sight as a whole gaggle of perhaps 200 ocean birds circled what must have been a huge “bait ball” close by. The water was just frothing with little fish and large wahoo and tuna flew through the air in every direction. I suppose that we should have circled back with some lines out, but the Captain was not in a circling mood and the crew was not hungry for anything much more than crackers and soup. Today almost all are 100% and the lines are going out after I finish this posting. Actually, putting the lines out will come after trying to overhaul our red and green navigation lights, which have shorted out, probably due to having spent quite a bit of time fully submerged (note: they are usually about 6 feet out of water). We may have to move them up the mast or back if we can’t seal them better.

Lunch was a red and yellow pepper omelet with a tomato lettuce salad.

The Captain just finished Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry — perhaps partially for the pleasure of contemplating dry, dusty Tombstone, Arizona. Now I’m on my third re-read of Patrick O’Brian’s Blue at the Mizzen — trying to alternate sailing books with their land cousins. Nadia, Mounira and Valentine are reading aloud Pierre Desproges Chroniques de la haine ordinaire. I hope that there is no haine (hate) left over for the Captain….

All is well.

En route to Brazil, here is what I am thinking:

These are the first lines I am able to write since we left Barbados. Down below in the saloon under a little night light, keeping my leg wrapped around the legs of the table so I don’t roll off the seat, I try to hold myself up to write. It is almost midnight, a night of full moon it seems and I can’t sleep. We are on the Atlantic, sailing between Latin America and Africa, East/Southeast towards the inter-tropical convergence zone where winds from the northern and southern hemisphere meet. We will cross the equator soon. Now, we are sailing in the dark only with the light of the moon. Fish accidentally end up jumping on deck. We try to save them, we throw them back so they can continue their journey.

We continue ours. We squeeze lime juice into our bowls of rice and truly appreciate the concentrated memory of the land. Just like a drop of lime juice or a grain of sand dried onto our deck after the rain - sand maybe from the deserts of Africa - we also become concentrated, boiled down to our essence. So far from everything the truth comes to the surface. Notions like “love”, “family”, a “purpose in life”… take on a different, somehow more real meaning. It is as simple as having to go away to know where home is or being away from people we love to know what we truly feel. Now, we listen. We travel through the water towards ourselves.

Location: 9° 25.0 N, 54° 09.0 W
Saturday 12:00, 06.10.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on 10 June was 9° 25.0 N 54° 09.0 W, or about 420 NM East of Trinidad and 290 NM North of Cayenne, French Guyana.

Our wind has favored us some by backing to about 080 degrees and lightening to 15-18 knots. Seas are still confused and the Maggie B still, from time to time, launches herself off of a big one to flop like a breeching humpback. Possibly she is trying to break off the last of the algae from Barbados.

We are now on a course of about 110 degrees, which should allow us to make our doldrums turn point of 5N/28W. But that is a ways away. We have gone about 420 NM and Natal is about 1420 NM, as the crow (Shearwater?) flies.

With this course, we will be able to head off the coast gradually. We have about 1/2 knot of adverse current. We are making 5.5 to 6 knots through the water but only 5 to 5.5 over the ground. The further off the coast, the less current.

We can tell that we are downstream from the Amazon because we are already seeing some pieces of trees float by. We are about 650 miles from its mouth.

We saw one small fishing boat rather close last night. 200 miles off the coast! We sail with our LED decklights on which give a moonglow to the sails. The night watch had spotted a white light ahead, and as we closed on it, they put on a red light above, signifying “fishing at night.” A container ship passed on a reciprocal course only two miles away and we just had a low flying four engine plane check us out. I wonder who it was.

The crew has all recovered and there is talk of a chicken stew this afternoon. Yum!

All is well.

Location: 10° 24.5 N, 55° 54.1 W
Friday 12:00, 06.09.2006

The Schooner Maggie B is at 10° 24.5N, 55° 54.1W at noon June 9th. The wind has backed a bit to 080-090 and diminished to 15-18 knots. We are still close hauled on the port tack, making about 5.5 knots on a course of 135 degrees. We are about equidistant from Barbados, Trinidad and Guyana at 270 miles distance. Hazy bright sun and still somewhat sloppy seas. Crew is stronger, but not all at 100%.

We were concerned with adverse current as we approach the Guyana/Surinam coast, but last night we even had a somewhat favorable set, adding about 1/2 knot to our speed and 10 degrees favorable lee bow push. Currently (har, har) it is neutral. The wind has backed to favor us about 20 degrees since we left Barbados, and we hope it will continue as we make our easting, allowing us to get to our turn point for Natal before we hit the Inner Tropical Convergence Zone (Doldrums) — on the far side of which are the very unfavorable SE’erlies.

The sea is quite empty here with only occasional shearwaters and long tailed tropic birds. No sign of any boats of any size. the only radar echoes last night were small rain showers, some of whom came to visit.

All is well.

Location: 12° 01.44 N, 57° 53.87 W
Thursday 10:00, 06.08.2006

At 1000 today, we were at 12° 01.44 N, 57° 53.87 W. We are about 140 miles ESE of Barbados, having left yesterday at 10:30. The wind is 20 knots from 100-105. Our course is 155 degrees at six knots.

Leaving Barbados was hard due to the endless details to get together, but we were all eager to get going. Even with our “Slippy Bottom” paint, algae was growing on our bottom at an alarming rate. We would scrub it off in the morning and it would be an inch or two long by evening.

Much of the crew is a bit under the weather as we perhaps lost our sea legs being ashore a bit and the waves are rather big and somewhat confused. There is a 10 foot NE swell mixed with a sharp SE’rely chop. Makes even a big boat like the Maggie B move around a bit.
We are close hauled on the port tack and have been for the last day. The wind has been pretty steady at 20 knots, with occasional variations to 15 or 25.

Right now we are going more south than east, and we would like to be doing just the opposite. We are headed now towards French Guyana (think penal colony) where, if we get close to the coast there will be a strong adverse current. We probably don’t have to worry until we get south of about 10 degrees north, but that is not too far. Our course to our planned turn point is about 120 degrees, and the wind would have to back a lot for us to make that.

We did a marvelous job of provisioning in Barbados. We made friends with Pierre, owner of the lovely Mango Restaurant and he put us in contact with his best suppliers. Unfortunately, all most are eating now is dry crackers.

The crew is Frank Blair, Bori Kiss, Nadia Mohammedi, Mounira Almeida, Valentine Michon, and Max Hofman. On to Brazil!

All is well.